Arab League brands Hezbollah ‘terror’ group

SENIOR MEMBER

Hezbollah fighters hold their group and Lebanese flags, as they perform during a rally marking the ninth anniversary of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war (File Photo: AP)
By Staff writer Al Arabiya English Friday, 11 March 2016

Nearly all members of the pan-Arab body supported the decision, but not Lebanon and Iraq which expressed "reservations", the bloc said in a statement read out at a news conference by Bahraini diplomat Wahid Mubarak Sayar.

Algeria supported the move, but with reservations, according to the Bahraini diplomat.

MEMBER

From what I understand, that Hezbollah group is a pain in the ass of Israelis. Am I right on this? Now, branding Hezbollah as terrorists will ruin their image as hero fighters for Palestine. With the big Arab group cooperating with that declaration on Hezbollah, it might inspire the Shiite to show their force... by launching terroristic raids again. Or maybe that statement is a ploy just to spite the Shiite? This rivalry of Shiia and Sunni seems to be getting out of hand.

SENIOR MEMBER

From what I understand, that Hezbollah group is a pain in the ass of Israelis. Am I right on this? Now, branding Hezbollah as terrorists will ruin their image as hero fighters for Palestine. With the big Arab group cooperating with that declaration on Hezbollah, it might inspire the Shiite to show their force... by launching terroristic raids again. Or maybe that statement is a ploy just to spite the Shiite? This rivalry of Shiia and Sunni seems to be getting out of hand.

This won't really have technical repercussions, it's part of a pattern we've been seeing over the past year. There has been much rhetoric relayed between Saudi led Gulf block and Iran led Shia block. This rhetoric has intensified, but has had real consequences in Yemen. Where the Iran-led block sought to hit back at Saudi Arabia for support of rebels in Syria, so the Iran led block increased support to Houthi rebels in Yemen. This was all prior to Russian intervention in Syria.

After Russian intervention, Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric for inciting violence but also accused of being indirectly responsible for killings of policemen. Then a war of words erupted between Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah, with the Hezbollah Chief publicly calling out Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia cut aid to Lebanese army and gave travel warning to its citizenry to Lebanon. Now this happened. It has reached its peak, there will be more rhetoric on both sides but that's all. People who identify with a certain camp won't switch sides, most people saw this coming for awhile now.

THINK TANK: SENIOR

This won't really have technical repercussions, it's part of a pattern we've been seeing over the past year. There has been much rhetoric relayed between Saudi led Gulf block and Iran led Shia block. This rhetoric has intensified, but has had real consequences in Yemen. Where the Iran-led block sought to hit back at Saudi Arabia for support of rebels in Syria, so the Iran led block increased support to Houthi rebels in Yemen. This was all prior to Russian intervention in Syria.

After Russian intervention, Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric for inciting violence but also accused of being indirectly responsible for killings of policemen. Then a war of words erupted between Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah, with the Hezbollah Chief publicly calling out Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia cut aid to Lebanese army and gave travel warning to its citizenry to Lebanon. Now this happened. It has reached its peak, there will be more rhetoric on both sides but that's all. People who identify with a certain camp won't switch sides, most people saw this coming for awhile now.